Why the inventor of the Oculus Rift made a VR headset that can kill - Inverse

Palmer Luckey, the creator of the Oculus Rift and different virtual world exertion that present serves arsenic the backbone of Meta's mission to physique the metaverse, has made a VR headset that tin kill. Specifically, the headset appears to beryllium a modified mentation of Meta’s caller Quest Pro headset based connected photos Luckey shared on his idiosyncratic blog.

Why physique a deadly VR headset? And however would that adjacent work? The answers person to bash with an anime, and the disparate enactment Luckey has been up to since being ousted from Meta successful 2017.

Why did Palmer Luckey marque a deadly VR headset?

Luckey writes that his inspiration for making this Quest Pro mod was Sword Art Online, a fashionable airy caller bid turned anime, astir a radical of radical who get stuck successful a benignant of virtual world MMORPG. The modified Quest Pro Luckey created is expected to mimic the NerverGear headsets utilized by players successful Sword Art Online and commemorates the in-universe time (November 6, 2022) erstwhile the players were trapped successful the game.

“If their deed points dropped to zero, their encephalon would beryllium bombarded by extraordinarily almighty microwaves, supposedly sidesplitting the user,” Luckey writes. His mentation of the headset attempts to recreate the aforesaid thought successful a classical riff on, “if you dice successful the game, you dice successful existent life.”

Besides being a instrumentality of the series, Luckey credits Sword Art Online with popularizing VR concepts, and making the archetypal Kickstarter Oculus Rift that started it each a large deed successful Japan. “The popularity of SAO led to monolithic otaku enthusiasm for Oculus, particularly successful Japan, which rapidly became our 2nd largest market,” Luckey explains.

So, however does the headset termination you?

Completely recreating the NerveGear was retired of the picture, Luckey says, due to the fact that the microwave exertion required is seemingly not thing that fits connected someone’s caput easily. Luckey’s mentation alternatively uses 3 “explosive complaint modules” that are tied to a “narrow-band photosensor” wrong the Quest Pro.

When the headset’s screens flash reddish astatine circumstantial frequence (say, erstwhile you’re getting damaged in-game) and cuts to a crippled implicit screen, the sensor tin observe the alteration and trigger the explosives, “instantly destroying the encephalon of the user.”

Luckey writes that helium hasn’t tested the headset himself — for evident reasons — but helium considers the headset incomplete due to the fact that the Quest Pro conscionable can’t prosecute each of the senses successful the aforesaid mode a NerveGear does. You tin besides instrumentality the headset off, a “problem” Luckey plans to lick with an “anti-tamper mechanism.”

Wait, truthful helium did this due to the fact that of an anime?

The headset was inspired by Sword Art Online, but Luckey besides truly believes that the hazard of carnal harm volition marque playing games much immersive and engaging.

“Pumped up graphics mightiness marque a crippled look much real, but lone the menace of superior consequences tin marque a crippled consciousness existent to you and each different idiosyncratic successful the game,” Luckey writes.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, realism is the bugbear of galore a VR creator., not conscionable Luckey. Mark Zuckerberg has spoken astatine length connected the antithetic method challenges Meta’s Reality Labs hopes to tackle successful the pursuit of making VR consciousness much real. Luckey’s instrumentality is conscionable a much utmost mentation befitting what he’s gotten up to since helium stopped moving astatine Meta.

Because currently, Palmer Luckey is simply a subject contractor. He founded Anduril, a weapons and defence tech institution processing everything from drone defence systems to autonomous surveillance towers on the border. His existent projects tin person a existent interaction successful the satellite successful a mode that virtual and augmented world hardware mightiness ne'er reach.

So, portion Luckey writes that his existent slayer headset is simply a “piece of bureau art,” our larger interest astir apt shouldn’t beryllium however helium spends his escaped time.